


Respite

by thienaultha



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 18:31:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9337697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thienaultha/pseuds/thienaultha
Summary: Hakkai and Sanzo have a conversation.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jedishampoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedishampoo/gifts).



> Written for the 2016 Yuletide Smut fic exchange. There are spoilers if you haven't read recent chapters of Blast.

Lightning arced across the sky, ominous over flat terrain, thunder rolling not far behind.

To the relief of the Sanzo party, a town's walls loomed not far ahead, though upon arrival they realized it had long been abandoned. They wandered a bit, the long empty streets stretching bare in all directions. Parts of the road and walkways lay uprooted, debris strewn about. Some buildings were only half of what they once were, but a small inn, tucked away in a corner street, lay intact, and they set up there. An eeriness had crept up their spines, but they'd take that over camping in the wilderness. 

Sanzo and the others had agreed to help Sharak with the village visitations after their last encounter with Nataku. The War God really put an extra kink in their already broken plans, but helping Sharak gave them the opportunity to become familiar with the area and still be productive, despite being thrown out on their asses by the Three Aspects. The more time that passed, the less hidden the villages could become.

Sanzo spent the first half hour resting in one of the single rooms, but later gave in to his restlessness. He shuffled down the hall, his robes draped loosely around him, intent on finding a good nook to smoke in. He welcomed this time he had to himself as much as he welcomed the silence of the ghost town around them. He thought he should be able to hear Goku and Gojyo's obnoxious bickering voices from even across town--they were going to scout a little, they said-- but it was still silent.

He stood in the doorway to the inn, looking out at the stained walls of the buildings across the street, their windows dark. Some of them still had curtains. Sharak had mentioned humans abandoning towns in the wake of the youkai attacks, but It was different to see it.

Scraping and rustling came from the corridor behind him, and Sanzo turned to inspect the source. It would have to be one of the other three. Hopefully.

In the doorway beyond was the kitchen, and in the dim light he saw Hakkai's figure over a revived fire pit, setting a kettle to boil. He seemed distant, his movements slow, his gaze far away, beyond the wall he faced.

Tch, might as well, Sanzo thought. Besides, hot tea after a smoke was starting to feel like a swell idea.

Sanzo pulled one of the chairs in the corner up to a small preparation table, the legs grating on the stone floor, drawing Hakkai's attention.  
"Ah, did you need something, Sanzo?"

"Not really." Sanzo eased himself into the chair. The wood creaked with his movement as he leaned over the table, pulled out his Marlboros, his lighter. 

"I'm making tea, if you'd like some."

Sanzo lit his cigarette and took a drag. "Sure." The smoke curled from his lips and faded into the dark.

Silence reigned again as the kettle whistled and Hakkai prepared the tea. He set a small cup at the table for Sanzo before pulling up his own makeshift furniture, sitting at the other side of the table with his own cup in his hands. Wisps of steam drifted from the tea, accompanying the cigarette smoke. 

Hakkai finally spoke. "It's eerie, isn't it?" 

Sanzo looked up at him as he lifted his cup. "What?"

"This town. I don't think we've come across quite anything like it." Hakkai fidgeted, his fingers rapped against the side of his drink.

Sanzo set his cup back down. "Is there something you want to say?"

"Ah, maybe."

"Just say it."

"I've been thinking."

"…about what?"

"I don't know if Goku has mentioned anything to you yet, but Gojyo told me—Goku had said Nataku seemed familiar to him."

"Hn." He hadn't. Sanzo didn't like that. 

"So I've been thinking. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven…" Hakkai drifted off.

Sanzo stopped. Goku's actual connection to heaven, he didn't think too hard about it. The past wsa too pointless to think about. He'd been banished and imprisoned, after all. 

The Aspects' tale of Nataku, what was it? He'd sealed Gyumaoh away, entered a sleep after a tragedy in heaven. 

Five hundred years ago. 

Shit. 

"Sanzo?" Hakkai's voice took him out of his thoughts. He looked concerned, a little tired.

"Yeah."

"What do you think?"

Sanzo drew in a long breath and exhaled, smoke billowing out into the space between them. "I'm thinking I don't like it."

Hakkai raised his eyebrows, then chuckled. "I feel similarly. I also feel that it gives a new weight to the Aspects' decree. Five hundred years coincides with the legend of Goku's imprisonment, if I recall."

Sanzo nodded, brought his tea to his lips. The new realization burrowed into his stomach. 

"What do you think we should do?" Hakkai asked. His posture was stiff, Sanzo noticed. With the other reality that was Gojyo's youkai marking taking up a lot of his worries already, Sanzo could understand that tension. They'd already had a fight about all this mess.

"Keep going, like we have been. There's nothing we can do right now." Goku may have started to realize something himself. "Unless you don't want to."

Hakkai was quiet for a moment, his posture slack. He smiled. "I don't plan on that."

"Good." Sanzo had had enough of that bullshit.

They sat in silence again, Sanzo making it a point that he drank his tea before it cooled.

"How is your arm? We've been moving a lot."

"Do you like your tea cold?"

"Ah, I'm sorry." Hakkai took a sip. He was smiling, but his eyes said something else.

Sanzo set his empty cup down. "…It's fine."  
The painkillers did their job when he needed them. It would still be some time before he could use it fully again, which was the most frustrating part. The incident at Kyoukuei Palace--the pain that seared through him when he'd grabbed his gun and fired--served as a reminder.

"May I see?"

Sanzo lifted an eyebrow. He had hidden his arm in his lap beneath the table, out of sight, but it was true that it hadn't been looked at in the last day or so. That probably worried Hakkai, too.

Slowly, Sanzo laid his damaged arm out across the table. Hakkai brought his stool closer to Sanzo's side and he gently grasped his arm. He peeled back the bandages, his eyebrows furrowed as he focused on his healer's work.

Sanzo had to admit that it was looking better, though still an eyesore. It would always be one now, he realized. This wasn't something that would go away or be subtle. The skin was red and pink, had deformed into raised, puckered splotches. 

Hakkai moved his hands across the skin with gentle motions, turning his arm over to observe the other side. 

"It seems to be doing all right. You'll need to apply ointment soon."

Sanzo grunted his understanding. He was watching Hakkai's hands. He wasn't in much pain, but the sensation of Hakkai's fingers was…. different. The long caress wasn't smooth like it used to be. Instead the feeling skipped around, fine and familiar one moment, and then in the next it would fade. Not into nothing, but like he was wearing layers of clothing. He'd felt it before, the few instances he happened to touch something with his hand. The cool metal of Jeep's frame, the familiar grip of his gun. He had been warned about it. He'd ignored it then.

He realized too late that Hakkai was pinching his hand. He felt his own expression sour.

"It's all right," Hakkai assured, his voice low. "I was just testing the extent of the nerve damage."

"It varies."

"So I see."

Hakkai moved closer, let his and Sanzo's hands rest in his lap. "Keeping up the treatments, it should heal well."

Hakkai continued to stroke Sanzo's arm, the movements fluid and gentle. Sanzo let him. A warmth that had nothing to do with any healing abilities spread through him, light and comforting. Sanzo relaxed, and went back to smoking, rolling the cigarette between his fingers before taking another drag.

Silence returned, and Sanzo was grateful.

\--

Hakkai had been reapplying the bandages when a large _crack_ echoed from outside, followed by a long rumble and the pattering of what Sanzo could only assume was debris.

"I don't believe that was thunder." Hakkai looked to the roof.

Sanzo sighed, shooing Hakkai away and rising out of the chair. "I'm tired of this bullshit, whoever it is." He stamped out his cigarette and finished the bandages himself. "Pain in my ass."

"We're in disputed territory, after all. Hopefully Gojyo and Goku didn't get into trouble," Hakkai mused, dousing the fire and gathering their things. The building was plunged into a grey light from the windows. It was dim, but Sanzo could still see.

"Pains in my ass," Sanzo said, for good measure.

"I suppose I should apologize," Hakkai began. "Our downtime wasn't as efficient as it could have been. Pointless self-indulgence doesn't really belong in our current situation." 

Hakkai turned around then, bags in hand, ushering Sanzo out of the inn. It was starting to rain.

"Hakkai," Sanzo said.

Not so far away, he could make out Gojyo and Goku yelling, barreling closer as another crash echoed down the street. 

Hakkai looked at him, his face carefully neutral. "Yes?"

"Nothing is pointless."

Hakkai didn't look away. His face had softened, and he smiled again. "I'll keep that in mind."


End file.
